Forty Signs of Rain

Kim Stanley Robinson is best known for his award-winning Mars trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars) as well as The Years of Rice and Salt. With the publication of his newest novel, Forty Signs of Rain, Kim Stanley Robinson begins another trilogy of epic proportion.

Set primarily in Washington, D.C., Forty Signs of Rain tells the tale of a young environmental policy analyst for a popular U.S. Senator, and his wife, a scientist with the National Science Foundation. The book details many of the varying climatic changes occurring throughout the world, and the desire (or lack thereof) within our government to enact changes to care for the situation before it's too late.

The majority of the novel builds a few major characters while introducing us to the reality of the global scientific situation. Even though the topics are fairly mind-boggling, Robinson keeps readers engrossed by building interesting, fully-realized characters, and exploring their passions about their fields of science.

Unfortunately, since the novel is the first in a trilogy, there are a lot of loose ends left dangling, and the climax is rather flat, since, for most of the book, readers aren't quite sure where they are headed. The plot revolves around a small number of major characters, which Robinson takes ample time in developing, creating a rich, entertaining read, but with very little discernible direction. By changing locales, and sometimes, scientific tracks altogether; it's hard to see where the story is headed.

One thing Robinson does well, however, is in pulling complex events together, for the greater whole of the story. Approaching the final pages of Forty Signs of Rain, many events and situations fall into place, and the reader begins to see that nothing here is explored by accident. There is a very carefully plotted story here. A story only Kim Stanley Robinson can unveil so masterfully.

Despite its wanderings, the novel pulls together very satisfactorily near the end, exploring some exciting scenes, which are so realistic and believable; they feel as though they had been pulled from the morning newspaper. In fact, Robinson is careful not include any dates at all in Forty Signs of Rain, which will only add to its timelessness. If this series follows its commendable introduction in similar fashion, it will surely be a trilogy of astounding magnitude, and will not only represent fine literature, but will make a bold political statement as well. The ‘Capital Code' trilogy, as it is being referred to, may very well become required reading for both global climate scientists, and political candidates.

Robinson set out for this to be a contemporary novel written as if it was science fiction. Reading it some 15 years after its publication perhaps dilutes its science fiction attributes. Whilst not yet as catastrophic as in the novel, severe climate events are at the forefront of our experience almost on a daily basis. I found it interesting that, whilst the conflict is global and the threat is of global extinction or at least civilization collapse; that the foreground story of the protagonists is best described as domestic and could by some readers be described as mundane. The protagonists if we can call them that are like us, running daily lives, but they differ in that they are also aware of pending ecological disaster, conscious of the role science can or should play in driving change.
Robinson as in all his novels explores the meaning or importance of science and here extends that into contemporary politics. The little outtakes on hominid evolutionary psychology suggest why we are stuck with behaviors that contribute to the pending catastrophe. He depicts quite accurately our current and recent history of denial or at best the attitude of not disrupting too much the status quo whilst making some ponderous progress.
It became obvious to me as I read that this novel was setting up the characters, the environment [Washington as physical city and political capital], science as the redemptive hope [metaphor of Buddhism as science], as the plot marches on to greater ecological disaster.
So if you are looking for a high action in your face doom-laden SF adventure this and I suspect its two sequels won't satisfy. That though for me was somewhat the point. We don't approach global warming and the rest of the damage we are doing to our ecology as if we are on a cliff edge.
It's a slow read, a slow fuse if you like. Are Charlie and Anna to saccharin? Perhaps but why not I'm told some relationships are like that and that made me smile at times. Frank has his demons, his early mid-life crisis which I suspect will feature more in subsequent novels. Are the Buddhists just a colourful sidetrack and some aspect that Robinson has a fondness for. [See previous works]. I think not but will read on to see.
So, in short, I want to know more. Robinson re-worked this series, updating and shortening it into one novel Green Earth. This is where I will pick up my reading.